Diagnoser: Characterizing the conceptual state of students ...



TPT WebSights column draft for September, 2009:

WebSights features announcements and reviews of select sites of interest to physics teachers. All sites are copyright by their authors. This column is available as a web page at .

If you have successfully used a physics website that you feel is outstanding and appropriate for WebSights, please email me the URL and describe how you use it to teach or learn physics. macisadl@buffalostate.edu.

Seven Feynman Video Lectures: The Character of Physical Law from Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research, in collaboration with Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates have purchased rights and are freely streaming Feynman's seven Cornell 1964 lectures on The Character of Physical Law. I watched and greatly enjoyed the first introductory lecture on gravitation. The lectures are being used to demonstrate a new Microsoft video annotation format product called Microsoft Silverlight. While the videos and Silverlight are freely available from Microsoft for a limited selection of platforms, operating systems (OSs) and browsers, I was unable to make Silverlight run on my elderly Mac, or to install Silverlight on several PCs in our physics department. I did manage to watch the first video (only) on a colleague's more recent Mac laptop.

There are many Feynman videos available on the internet, and in fact a number on YouTube. Though the Character of Physical Law videos were removed at copyholder's request the audio and related public domain still photo for the seven lectures are still there.

Three Physics and Astronomy blogs:

Cocktail Party Physics is an irreverent, humorous blog dealing with physics from the point of view of someone who isn't a professional physicist, but who is interested in the subject. Multiple bloggers add interesting, differing viewpoints on current events from a physics standpoint.

Astronomycast is a website and podcast created by Dr. Pamela Gay from the University of Southern Illinois and Frasier Cain, Publisher of Universe Today. The podcasts include weekly discussion topics, and mostly weekly "question shows" were listeners are invited to send Dr. Gay her questions, which she will answer in the podcast.

Dr Gay also has her own blog Star Stryder at blogging the life of an astronomer.

Submitted by Richard Hubbard, physics teacher at Western New York Maritime Charter School, Buffalo NY

The LivePhoto Physics videos and video analysis site:



The LivePhoto site is similar to an archive of short films for video analysis. Some videos have flash tools for analyzing the video embedded in the movie. Most of the videos address mechanics topics with titles like Rolling Pencil (check this one out for pedagogy and content knowledge - nicely done!), Juggler, Yo-yo, Puck and Bar (this one is an inelastic collision with rotation), but there are a few titles in other areas (E&M, waves, thermo, etc).

From the LivePhoto site description: “Short videos, often just 20 to 30 frames in length, can be extremely useful in teaching physics and other sciences. Not still photographs, but too short to be considered movies, these "live photos" are designed for analysis in a computer. The positions of objects in the video frame can be measured by pointing a mouse and clicking. The data can be graphed, analyzed in spreadsheets, compared to theoretical models, and even used to display vectors or points superimposed on the original video.”

Submitted by Dr. David Abbott, SUNY- Buffalo State Physics. LivePhoto Physics is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and is a project of the Physics Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The Brainiacs and the Electric Fence from YouTube:



A humorous collection of classic Ben Franklin-era electrostatics experiments demonstrating conduction and insulation effects re-enacted with a group of barefooted college age volunteers in T-shorts known as "braniacs" and a commercial farm-grade electric fence. Quite humorous and compelling, with a noteworthy musical track. Brainiac: Science Abuse is a UK science entertainment show with several episodes on YouTube and a website with some freely available shows at . Note that the Skynet site (like Hulu or Showtime or online TV network sites) has other, adult themed television content not suitable for the classroom.

See also the excellent Benjamin Franklin and Electrostatics website at the Wright Center at Tufts University by Dr. Robert Morse: especially the QuickTime video clip entitled "Drawing the Fire" that you can re-enact with your students in your classroom.

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